A Brunch in the Making

Father's Day is just an excuse to cook for more than just my kids and my husband.  It gives me the opportunity to pull in my in-laws too!  Since we have 3/4 of our lives in boxes, my mother-in-law graciously offered their house to host, and all I had to do was try out a recipe I've been dying to make for weeks!

When I first saw Anya's recipe for Ricotta Breakfast Casserole, I knew I had to try it with some homemade ricotta!  Judging from all of her delectable successes chronicled on A Toast To Taste, I knew it would be a hit!  And, BONUS!, I got to try my hand at a whole new type of cheese!

So, I started on Friday when I got home by making the Ricotta.  Urban wanted to help, so we pulled ou hair back, brought over his cooking stool and poured our milk into the pot.

I found this beautiful whole milk from, Oberweis Dairy, that comes in heavy glass bottles.  (It was the bottles that sold me, I'll admit) but also the fact that they do home delivery!  (I detest going to the grocery store, so anyone who will deliver staples to my home is a new best friend in my book.)

Anyway, we carefully measured the citric acid and cheese salt, and I put Urban in charge of stirring.  You don't want the milk to scald, and you have to bring it up to 195˚F.  So constant stirring is a must.  I was in charge of reading the thermometer.  He actually stood there and stirred the entire time switching arms periodically because his "muscles hurted."  After the curds and whey came up to temp, Urban abandoned me to paly video games, and I strained the curds and hung the resulting cheese in a butter cloth "satchel" to drain.  About 30 minutes later, we had a lovely lump of ricotta.  Into the fridge it went.

On Saturday, after a morning of packing and running around, I set out to make the casserole.  This is the recipe:

Ricotta, Cinnamon and Honey Breakfast Casserole

1 tsp. butter
1 baguette, cut into 1/2-inch slices
3/4 cup milk (skim is ok, but whole is better)
2 eggs
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
8 oz. fresh ricotta (you can usually get fresh ricotta from a cheese shop or fancy grocery store, but regular is ok if you can’t find fresh)
1/4 cup honey
extra honey, agave nectar or maple syrup for drizzling

Preheat the oven to 350° and grease a small baking dish (I used a 9-inch oval) with the butter. Place half of the baguette slices in a single layer at the bottom of the dish.

Whisk the milk, eggs, cinnamon and salt together until well-combined and pour half over the bread. Spread the ricotta over the batter-soaked bread and drizzle with the honey.

Place the remaining bread over the top of the ricotta, pressing down a bit to compress, then pour the remaining half of the batter of the top, making sure to coat each piece of bread.

Let sit for 30 minutes (or overnight) covered in the refrigerator. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the top is golden and crisp and the custard is set.

Serve and drizzle with honey, agave nectar or maple syrup. 

I added just a pinch of ground cloves to the milk, eggs, cinnamon and salt.  I love cloves and cinnamon together, and it actually gave the final product the illusion of a baked-apple taste.  (Which is cool since I love apples, but can't eat them due to an allergy that developed when I was pregnant with Urban.  Silly babies, ruin everything.)  I digress...

I let the casserole sit overnight, as suggested, and brought it, along with some fresh berries, to my in-laws'.  There it was baked for the recommended 25 minutes and Voila! a beautiful Sunday treat to celebrate Father's Day.

It was very lovely, and I highly recommend anyone try this out.  The final product was very similar to a stuffed French toast that my family enjoys, and I can imagine so many yummy variations, it boggles the mind.

Truly the creation of this dish, from the cheese to the casserole, was a wonderful escape from the cardboard jungle and Sharpie smells that now fill my life.